Video: Haitian Aid Fraud - RT Breaking the Set

Abby Martin Breaks the Set on Gunmen in Paris, Haiti’s Continuing Cholera, Mexico’s Massacres & Rejecting the IDF.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN: On this episode of Breaking the Set, Abby Martin, discusses the horrific attack in Paris by masked gunmen on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper that left 12 people dead and why other attacks that took place in the last 24 hours received almost no coverage. Abby then speaks with RT Correspondent, Polly Boiko, from Paris about what concrete details are known about the attack on Charlie Hebdo’s headquarters. Abby then talks to Jake Johnston, Research Associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research about the fifth anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti that killed over 200,000 people and how aid relief is being squandered. Abby then discusses Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto’s visit to the White House and a new investigation tying his federal police to the abduction of 43 students back in September, leading to a crisis of confidence in the Mexican government. BTS wraps up the show with an interview with Israeli activist, Amit Gilutz, about why he is urging young Israelis to reject mandatory enlistment in the Israeli Defense Forces.

How American corruption derailed Haiti’s earthquake recovery

Corruption, corruption, corruption. We hear about it all the time, but usually when someone’s speaking about some problem over there in some part of the developing world – there’s a lot of corruption in Africa, people say. Or Colombia. Or Haiti.

An expose in the Boston Review this week, however, turns that line of thinking on its head. Looking at the four years that have elapsed since a violent earthquake shook Haiti to its core in 2010, the Center for Economic and Policy Research’s Jake Johnston shows in painstaking detail how American corruption played a huge role in Haiti’s faltering reconstruction process. In short, the political agendas of US officials – including Hillary and Bill Clinton – determined how many houses were going to be built in the aftermath of the destruction, who was going to get paid for them and how much, and most startlingly, which Haitians were going to get to live in them. Turns out, it wasn’t the families eking out an existence in tent camps, who’d lost everything, including their homes. Listen to this discussion with Johnston to find out why.

In the headlines portion, East Coast correspondent Tom Murphy and I discuss the United Nations screening process for cholera among its personnel (lack thereof, really), how aid groups should function in places with discriminatory laws on the books, and yet another study discrediting microfinance.

Video: Phyllisia Ross - L'Union Fait La Force (Official Video)

Phyllisia Ross, a Haitian female r&b artist, music video for single titled 'L'Union Fait La Force'.

Buy: Phyllisia Ross Ft Flo Rida - I'm Tired (Single)

Film 'Fatal Assistance' spotlights colossal aid failure in Haiti

With unintentional understated irony, senior housing advisor Priscilla Phelps of Bill Clinton's Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) becomes the conscience of Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck's Fatal Assistance (Assistance Mortelle), which opened Friday at the Lincoln Center for a one-week run before moving on to Miami and other cities. Peck meticulously revisits the timeline, from the first seconds of the monstrous Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake through almost three years of "recovery" efforts by the international community.

Fatal Assistance opens and closes with frightening footage of a man and a woman caught on security cameras during the initial moments of the quake. The man runs for his life as structures implode around him in a burst of dust and debris. He disappears off-camera and we do not learn his fate.

The woman, running into an open courtyard, literally falls to the ground and embraces the earth. Both are Haiti, running for its collective life and having no hope of rescue, dependent completely upon the population's bond with an island that has been it's only hope and sustenance since the days of slavery.

AUDIO: Heat Luctama - An Nou Mete Tet Ansanm (Song for Haiti Earthquake)

MUSIC: Heat Luctama - An Nou Mete Tet Ansanm (Song for Haiti Earthquake)
[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/heatluctama/heat-luctama-an-nou-mete-tet[/soundcloud]

Heat Luctama, a Haitian kompa artist, single titled 'An Nou Mete Tet Ansanm (Song for Haiti Earthquake)'.

Fatal Assistance: a Scattered, Impressionistic Look at Haiti's Post-Quake Problems

There's no more sobering example of the feeble results of the massive, multibillion-dollar relief effort that is post-Haitian-earthquake reconstruction than the pathetic one-room shacks, with no plumbing or cooking areas, finally built by the international do-gooders who swarmed the island.

In Fatal Assistance, director Raoul Peck, a Haitian native, demonstrates that multinational relief groups and celebrities did little to relieve Haiti's plight -- a gruesome worsening of a housing situation that was critical even before a debilitating 7.0 magnitude quake shook it to rubble in 2010.

But Peck doesn't exactly make the why all that clear. The mass of dead bodies and debris to be moved was immense, requiring manpower, expertise, and, above all, money, but that problem wasn't quite sexy enough for the likes of Sean Penn, outside relief groups, and their mountains of cash.

Haitian politicians and agencies got sidelined, but Peck doesn't really address the stated reason: the outsiders' fear of local corruption. Housing expert Priscilla Phelps of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission led by Bill Clinton offers a pointed critique, but her contributions to the film's argument come here and there, without focus.

Voiceovers that are a fictional exchange of letters, like most dull re-enactments, sap the film's force. Peck's documentary is not a penetrating look at at Haiti's post-quake problems, but a scattered, impressionistic one. It unveils the bureaucracy, naïveté, and historical forces plaguing Haiti to this day, but it's no more than a forceful poke at a hornet's nest.

VIDEO: 4 years after devastating Haiti earthquake // CCTV America

[embedyt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV4HqOuINxs[/embedyt]

Host Elaine Reyes sits down with Jose Agustin Aguerre, manager of the Haiti Department at the Inter-American Development Bank, to discuss the organization's contributions to the reconstruction effort in Haiti.

Video: Inside Haiti's infamous main prison - Independent.ie

More than four years on from Haiti's traumatic earthquake, the prevention of violent crime remains a stated priority for its government and foreign donors. But as reporter Jason O'Brien and photo-journalist Mark Condren discovered, those tasked with improving and enforcing security in Port-au-Prince face some of the most unenviable work imaginable.

INTERVIEW: Ezili Dantò talks 4 Years After the Haiti Earthquake on Uhuru Radio

Part 1
[audio:http://margueritelaurent.com/downloads/ZiliUhuru1.mp3|titles=Ezili Dantò talks 4 Years After the Haiti Earthquake on Uhuru Radio]
Part 2
[audio:http://margueritelaurent.com/downloads/ZiliUhuru2.mp3|titles=Ezili Dantò talks 4 Years After the Haiti Earthquake on Uhuru Radio]

Ezili Dantò, a award winning Haitian human rights attorney and founder of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN), talks four years after the Haiti earthquake on Uhuru Radio on February 4, 2014.

Ezili Dantò is the founder and President of Ezili's Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network ("HLLN"), a network of lawyers, activists, concerned individuals and grassroots organizations dedicated to institutionalizing the rule of law and protecting the civil and cultural rights of Haitians at home and abroad. Ezili Dantò, (colonially named "Marguerite Laurent") was born Haiti. HLLN is a Haitian-led, capacity building organization. Ezili's HLLN runs the Ezili Dantò Listserve, reaching over three-and-a-half million readers with its postings and newsletters. HLLN closely monitors the situation in Haiti, issues its own news analysis, position statements, counters the colonial narrative on Haiti and informs about events that are not covered in the mainstream press. Ms. Dantò is an award winning playwright, a writer, performance poet and an entertainment attorney who has represented many top Hip Hop artist over the last 15 years including some members of Public Enemy and the Last Poets. Ezili Dantò is a pro-democracy Haitian-American activist who was once, from 1994-1995, legal advisor to President Jean Bertrand Aristide of Haiti.

Haiti: A nation with a cross to bear

Reporter Jason O'Brien and photojournalist Mark Condren travelled to Port-au-Prince in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophic earthquake on 12 January, 2010 – and stepped into a living nightmare. Now they've been back to see how things have changed.

WITH people still trapped under rubble, bodies lining the streets and huge security concerns that saw armed American troops on the streets, the Haitian capital was truly devastated in what the United Nations described as the “most serious humanitarian crisis” in decades.

Life would obviously never be the same again.

Yet, for those lucky enough to survive, life had to go on – and the stoicism and determination of many in the face of that incredible adversity was widely noted and remarked upon as the world’s media shone its spotlight on Port-au-Prince for weeks.

Rights group says residents of Haitian quake camp clash with police trying to forcefully evict them

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – An international advocacy group says Haitian police clashed with hundreds of residents in a camp for people displaced by the 2010 earthquake.

Amnesty International said Tuesday that officers showed up at the makeshift settlement north of Port-au-Prince and fired their weapons in the air while ordering people to vacate.

Residents responded by blocking a highway, and police used tear gas to disperse the crowd, but no one was evicted. Amnesty said two people were treated after being beaten by police.

The apparent effort to evict people from the settlement known as Canaan began in December when Haitian authorities first showed up and told people to leave. It's not clear who owns the land.

Canaan is one of hundreds informal camps that emerged in the aftermath of Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake.

Obama: US will stand with Haiti as earthquake recovery continues

WASHINGTON — Four years after a powerful earthquake devastated Haiti, President Barack Obama on Thursday praised the rebound taking place in the impoverished Caribbean nation but said there is more work to be done. He pledged that America will remain a partner in that process.

At the start of his first official meeting with Haitian President Michel Martelly, Obama also said he was encouraged by progress Haiti has taken to remove "political roadblocks" to holding legislative and local elections that are two years overdue.

Obama said the "good news" is that because of U.S. and other aid that flowed to Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake, along with Martelly's leadership and the will of the Haitian people, "we've begun to see progress." The 7.0 earthquake, centered just west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, killed an estimated 300,000 people and left 1.5 million others without permanent homes.

"The economy is growing. Security is improving. Infrastructure is getting rebuilt. Rubble has been removed," Obama said from the Oval Office as he and Martelly sat side by side in separate chairs. "Health facilities are beginning to open up. Schools are starting to get back into place, and businesses are starting to return to Haiti."

Billions in Haiti aid, pennies in progress since 2010 earthquake

On January 12, 2010 a 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked Port-au-Prince and the surrounding suburbs for 35 seconds, killing hundreds of thousands of people and displacing approximately 1.5 million. Immediately after news of the earthquake reached global airwaves, an unprecedented amount of money began to pour in from international donors, charities, and various aid organizations. The U.S. government was the biggest contributor, pledging $3.6 billion to the relief and reconstruction effort in Haiti.

But progress in Haiti is slow and reconstruction efforts are lacking at best. It has now been four years since the earthquake and many are asking: how has the money been spent?

The first challenge was to provide shelter for the hundreds of thousands of Haitians made homeless by the earthquake. The United States and other international donors planned for large housing projects to build homes and create jobs in a nation that has been plagued with extremely high unemployment rates for years. USAID initially planned to build 15,000 new homes, but so far has only built 7,515, citing issues with acquiring land titles as one of the main reasons housing projects had to be scaled back.

Haiti earthquake survivor dreads departure

They help her into a sequined dress, tie a good luck balloon to her bed, and share a cake bidding “Bon Voyage.”

The medical staff at Spaulding Hospital Cambridge has healed the wounds of Zilania Joacin, fed and clothed her, helped her in and out of bed nearly every day since she arrived with little more than a hospital johnny.

Now, some in tears, they gather in the cramped room the wizened woman shares with another patient. They have come to say goodbye.

Joacin arrived in Boston four years ago, battered by the earthquake that ravaged Haiti in 2010. For nearly all of that time, home has been the second floor of Spaulding Hospital Cambridge. The 71-year-old has been here longer than any other patient and, by all accounts, she is the last evacuee of the quake remaining in a Boston-area hospital.

Four years after devastating earthquake, Haitians get nothing but imperialist occupation

The horrific Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti caused building collapses in Port-au-Prince and its suburbs that killed at least 300,000 people. It left an uncounted number injured and 1.5 million homeless.

Four years later, according to the Ministry of Public Works, an estimated 20 percent of the ruble has yet to be removed. Only 7,515 units of public housing have been built and what has been built suffers from major shortcomings. (Haiti Grassroots Watch, Jan. 8)

The massive devastation of Haiti touched off a worldwide outpouring of sympathy and solidarity. Governments promised $14 billion in aid. However, not much has substantially improved in the lives of the Haitian people.

The U.S. government put together an aid package worth $128 million to build an industrial park in Caracol on the northwest coast of Haiti that was supposed to supply 60,000 jobs. (Le Monde Diplomatique, May 2013) At the end of 2013, only 2,590 people were working there and many of them weren’t paid even Haiti’s minimum wage of $4.54 a day. (New York Times, Jan. 10)

150,000 still displaced on Haiti earthquake’s fourth year anniversary

Four years ago Sunday, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, destroying its capital of Port-au-Prince and killing more than 200,000 people.
Today, much of Port-au-Prince looks like it did before the quake. Most of the tent camps in the city itself are gone, and streets are loaded with overcrowded buses and women selling vegetables.

Most of those whose lives were upended by the quake are back in some kind of home. Most of the rubble has been cleared from the streets. The severely damaged presidential palace has finally been razed. And the government is rebuilding its ministries downtown.
But for nearly 150,000 people, life hasn’t moved on. They still live in the temporary plastic and plywood structures erected after the disaster.

What Keeps Them There

“It’s the worst place to be in Haiti,” says Gregoire Goodstein, mission chief for the International Organization for Migration. “We’re talking about the higher-hanging fruit; people who are unable to get out of the tent camp system because they really don’t have any other solutions for themselves.”

In Post-Earthquake Haiti, a Forgotten Island is Left to Recover on its Own

To traverse the 13-mile stretch of Caribbean Sea to the island of La Gonave, one must choose between three types of boats, none particularly safe.

First there are the “fly boats,” speed boats with outboard motors that race a dozen people from one side to the other. From time to time they flip over. Few records exist as to how many people survive.

Then there are the two large steel ferries that carry a few hundred passengers slowly across the sea each day. In 1997, one of those ferries sank, killing 200.

Last, there are the sailboats — wooden ships built from hand-carved lumber and pieced together with hammered nails. Their canvas masts are reminiscent of those in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie franchise. They carry everything from rice to dry cement, motorcycles, cars and trucks.

When night falls, Haitian orphans tremble like the ground did

Four years ago, the earth shook in Haiti. It lasted less than a minute. By the time the trembling stopped, death had already begun.

Many were killed instantly, by collapsed buildings, oncoming cars, falling pipes, girders, walls. Others died in the days that followed, bleeding out, missing limbs. Some died while being carried to makeshift hospitals. Others died on blankets or old mattresses while awaiting treatment.

Disease and unsanitary conditions took more lives. Bodies were buried in mass graves. Some were tossed in dumps. Many remained for weeks beneath flattened buildings. Some were bulldozed away, leaving no remains for a casket, no grave site to visit.

When the dust settled, Haitian authorities estimated more than 300,000 were dead. That would be about 3 percent of the entire population.

VIDEO: Haitians blame UN soldiers for cholera crisis in wake of earthquake disaster // PBS

Three years ago in Haiti, as the country struggled to recover from a devastating earthquake, a river near a United Nations base was poisoned with cholera; hundreds of thousands of people have been infected. Inigo Gilmore of Independent Television News investigates the allegations about the spread of the disease by UN soldiers.

VIDEO: Four Years Later, Haiti Still Recovering From Deadly Quake // Newsy

Four years after the earthquake in Haiti, which created an instant humanitarian crisis and drew widespread international support, the impoverished country is still dealing with the challenges brought on by the disaster — and a few new ones as well.